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I googled steam linux beta and one of the results was from fileplanet ( http://www.fileplanet.com/126568/dow...nt-&#91;Linux] ). When you go there it immediately gives you a gz archive with an executable in it called 'steam'. I ran it on ubuntu 11.10 via virtualbox. After running the executable I realised and then stopped the virtual machine from having access to the Internet. It didn't seem to do anything. Running it again so this time from start it didn't have any connection to the Internet it immediately told me

Code:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ ./steam
Failed to connect to any GeneralDirectoryServer

wtf is that?

Well, some strings from it:

Code:

SteamInstallPath
Unable to get home directory
%s/.steam
Unable to write to the current Steam application folder.
Please move Steam to a folder where you have write privileges.
basic_string
Steam.dll

That message "Unable to write to the current Steam application folder." seems to come from steam.exe sometimes.

Big parts of our Linux community is also used to report bugs, file good reports with relevant information included, and even use debuggers.

I'll actually be surprised if it's easy to attach a debugger to anything. A big part of DRM systems is to disable debuggers using various tricky tricks (like registering its own debugger you have to override, setting the maximum number of hardware watches, lots of obfuscated code that freaks out if it thinks its in any real debugger, etc.) Lots of black magic that goes over my head, but all there precisely to stop people from being able to inspect the running program with a debugger, among a great many other things. Steam's DRM is actually pretty tolerable as far as DRM systems go (doesn't try to root your OS like the ones from EA or Sony have been known to), but it's definitely still there and still meant to be effective.

Remember, Steam on Linux is not GPL Freedom Steam for RMS-Approved Pure GNU/Linux. It's still a proprietary DRM'd distribution channel for proprietary DRM'd games. The DRM isn't even opt-out for developers; there are games that sell both on Steam and elsewhere and the non-Steam versions are DRM-free while the Steam versions are not, because that's how Steam rolls (... sorry).

Valve doesn't want you poking around inside of Steam of L4D2 to help fix it. They really, really don't.

You really should not download and execute random stuff from random untrusted third-party websites you find on the murky web.

If Linux is ever successful on the desktop, the day will come: "Download this .sh and follow the screenshots' instructions to get past some bogus no-execute security anti-measures in your OS, and then you can use our Daily Rotating Celebrity Bouncing Boobies Screensaver! Today's Celebrity is Scarlet Johansson! Tomorrow's Celebrity is Arnold Swarzenegger! Download your copy of Bouncing Boobies now!"

The DRM isn't even opt-out for developers; there are games that sell both on Steam and elsewhere and the non-Steam versions are DRM-free while the Steam versions are not, because that's how Steam rolls (... sorry).

Not true, the choice to use steam's DRM or not is usually up to the game devs and many games on steam do not include ANY sort of DRM.

Not true, the choice to use steam's DRM or not is usually up to the game devs and many games on steam do not include ANY sort of DRM.

Hmm. You could be right, and I admit I never bothered to ask if we could ship without DRM and am just basing this on what I've heard from other developers, but... I'm 87.35% sure it does. You are free to sell non-DRM versions in addition to a Steam key, e.g. what the Humble Bundle does. Other games sell DRM-free versions of their software on some stores like GOG and the DRM'd version on Steam. Many games also ship with _additional_ DRM, particularly those from larger publishers that are trying to use a unified DRM scheme for their Steam and non-Steam sales, and/or don't trust the (relatively innocuous) Steam DRM.

Hmm. You could be right, and I admit I never bothered to ask if we could ship without DRM and am just basing this on what I've heard from other developers, but... I'm 87.35% sure it does. You are free to sell non-DRM versions in addition to a Steam key, e.g. what the Humble Bundle does. Other games sell DRM-free versions of their software on some stores like GOG and the DRM'd version on Steam. Many games also ship with _additional_ DRM, particularly those from larger publishers that are trying to use a unified DRM scheme for their Steam and non-Steam sales, and/or don't trust the (relatively innocuous) Steam DRM.

There are various steam games I have that can run w/o steam launching it.

There are various steam games I have that can run w/o steam launching it.

That doesn't mean anything. I have several extremely DRM'd Steam games that don't require Steam to launch them.

Edit: at least I thought I did. This is a new laptop and I've only got a couple newer games on it. Was pretty sure a few games I've played before didn't though; hard to verify without redownloading them. I may be totally wrong on this one, but I'm still ~67.12% sure all Steam games have DRM.